"In January 2002 I hadn't got a clue who my great grandparents were, but I have a cousin John Bitton who did. He lives in Sweden and he emailed me the family tree, which starts with my great grandparents. I discovered my great grandfather was called Benjamin Bitton from Great Yarmouth.

After typing the word genealogy in many search engines I came up with a few sites to browse. I left my name and details on many message boards regarding the Bittons, though it was not until May 2002 that I found the Church of Latter Day Saints site. I noticed you could search for a name, so I typed in Benjamin Bitton, and I found him! I clicked on 'family', and it came up with his parents, brothers and sisters' details. It was amazing - in one click I had gone back as far as my great great grandparents.

I finally went back to my great great great great grandparents (1750). I printed the lists out and spent days looking at the names, dates of birth, marriages and deaths etc. I couldn't quite believe it. I wondered who had found out all this information and looked for the contributor. I found an address of a lady called Stella who lived near Salt Lake City. I decided to write to her and ask how she had got all this information, and were we really related.

About a week later, I received a lovely email from a very excited Stella, saying 'Dear Cousin Kim'. She explained the family connections; we share the same great great great grandparents. She had been researching the Bittons for 25 years, and she'd discovered that in the 1860s many of the Bittons left Great Yarmouth with the Latter Day Saints and sailed from Liverpool to New York. They then went by train to Boston where the railroad finished.

They then had a 1500 mile trek with handcarts and wagons over to Salt Lake City. They suffered much hardship and many of them died on the way. She sent me reams of information throug'h the post.

In August 2002 I was contacted by another third cousin, Ruth from Simi Valley in California. She had seen I was researching the Bittons on one of the genealogical notice boards. She also shared the same great great great grandparents. We discovered that the great great grandfathers of Ruth, Stella and I were brothers. I've also heard from the descendants of other brothers, including Martin from Yorkshire and Jane from Upminster.

In March 2003 I was contacted by John who lives only 35 minutes away from me in Mold. His grandfather and my grandmother were brother and sister. He didn't know his grandfather had any brothers and sisters (he was in fact the eldest of eight children). Whilst talking to him on the phone the penny finally dropped that we were from the same family and the lists of relatives I had sent him via email, both deceased and living, were in fact his first and second cousins. I thought he was going to have a heart attack!

I put everyone in touch with one another and we now exchange information on a regular basis."